The cartoon by Moir displayed by OLO should have read,
People; "Show us a miracle oh holy one."
Barack; "I'm not the Messiah,I'M just Barack!"
People; " Oh Bummer!"

lol, funny..

But yeh, people are setting some very unrealistic expectations on a mere man.
I think it is symbolically good that he is there, but yeh, he has the housing crash from the old Democrat loaning spree and the race problems the USA. He has a chance at fixing the financial problems, but I don't know how he can go on fixing black problems, that will be more up to them as individuals.

Anyway I care most about his international policies and hope he's a bit smarter than our lefty Mr Rudd.

Oh crikey yes, let’s hope to goodness that he’s a WHOLE lot smarter than KRudd.

RDudd is a lefty ?? ?? Rather fully and intensely a righty I would think.

Um, but yes…the expectations on OI’ bama are extreme. There is no way that he can live up to them. He’s just going to cop a crapload of..um crap..from all manner of people. (how long will it be before he gets widely referred to as Barack oh Bummer?)

He can’t fail to improve on G W Shrub, but as far as doing what is necessary in this time of great need….I just don’t think he’s got it in ‘im.

I certainly, and quite intensely, wish Barack all the best in his endeavours to change America and the world. But I doubt that anyone would have it in ‘em to do what is needed, within the highly restrictive environment where big business and big religion is all-powerful in swaying government to pander to their continuous-growth anti-sustainability agenda.

Lol, Ludwig,

No one wants to claim Mr Rudd do they, he describes himself as a Christian Socialist btw, that was the very first I ever heard of him......

If Obama has the courage to sack the Federal Reserve and issue a new currency by the power of congress,then I will believe in positive change and true freedom.
It is the Fed Res and the Corporates who weild the real power in the US and they will fight to the bitter end.

I just wish Obama would embrace sustainability as the most important principle of our times…and tackle every other issue on the basis that a sustainable USA and world HAS to be achieved, and within a pretty short timeframe.

It would outrage big business. But right at the start of a political term is the time to do this, giving the business lobby and the whole of American society time to get used to it and see the merit in it by the next election.

THIS should be Obama’s great challenge.

But I bet it is not even on his mind.

Ludwig the Fed Res is repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression.They are just printing more money and loaning it to the US Govt.The very people who created the problems are being bailed out while the ordinary person suffers and pays more.

It seems that Congress does not have the power to audit the Fed Res.It just pleases itself which is really criminal.I think that the all powerful pervasive Fed Res has corrupted Congress.

Yes Arjay, they are just propping up the current fatally flawed system.

Now, as recession bites, is the right time to reshape the whole economic approach…NOT after the US and world have recovered from this recession.

When things are booming along, there is little incentive to change the fundamentals of the system. So it’s got to happen now.

We’ve got a global recession. And we’ve got a new world’s most powerful leader. NOW is the right time to DUMP the absurd continuous-growth economic paradigm and head directly and urgently towards a paradigm of sustainability.

I’m sure the Federal Reserve has corrupted Congress. The power of big business and of the profit motive has certainly corrupted the whole governmental system in the US…and most if not all western democracies.

So yes I agree; if Obama could win control of the Fed Res, and stand up to the big corporations, he’d be on the right track. If he can’t, we may as well give up on the possibility of a sustainable US and world being achieved before we are shocked into it by an almighty crash event.

Arjay,

Many Australians seem to think that they live in America, why all this obsession with the US president? Take more interest in our politicians and policies, we have enough problems here.

Ludwig,

I understand your passion about sustainability. However, I think it's too much to expect one man, even if he is nominally the most powerful in the world, to fix them. The fact is that many who have power in this world, use it. From corporations through to individuals who all do what they want. That is outside of Obama's ability to do much about. Even if he were to slice off a head or two, another two just pop up in their place, just like the hydra. If he puts in new regulations, they just have unintended consequences somewhere else in the economy/society.

I'll play devil's advocate here. I think a big crash event is now the ONLY thing that will actually work to change behaviour. Once people realise that the old ways of doing things simply don't work, they'll change. The best way to get sustainability is to let the system fail, however rough it may be, and to force everyone to see it.

Rob, if Obama was to espouse sustainability as being the essential bottom line to all economic policy, I reckon the US and the world would very quickly come out in support.

Those big business bullies that just want growth at all costs would be very hard-pressed to counter such a message.

If Obama played it right, he could escape the stranglehold of corporate America, and actually turn it around to work for sustainability.

I think that we are at a point in time when the development of strategies to achieve sustainability are of the utmost importance. Obama is very likely to be our last hope. If he does nothing, or fiddles around the edges of sustainability, which he almost certainly will, then I’ll have to agree with you; an almighty crash event will be the only thing that will get our collective headspace around the imperative to live in balance with our environment and resource base.